JIM THE BUTTERFLY GARDENER

Checking  potting  mix . Vallis  photo . 

 

EARLY TASMANIAN ARTIST

 Sweeping view of  Hobart  from Rothy Point in the l880s  by  Captain  Haughton Forrest (1826-1925), a prolific  painter  of  marine scenes  and  landscapes who  also produced  Australia's first pictorial  postal stamps . Our drifting Shipping Reporter  came  across  the  framed  print  in a deceased estate . .

The  son  of a former   equerry to  Queen Victoria , Forrest was born in France, his family leaving the country in 1830  because  of  the  start of the  revolution  .

He was taken to Jamaica   where his father , who sired 10 children , had sugar plantations.

After military training back in England, achieving the rank of captain,  Haughton  Forrest  , went  to   Brazil for a short  time  and then  took up  land in  Tasmania  in  1876 .

There  he held several posts including   Bailiff of Crown Lands, Inspector of Nuisances  and  Superintendent of  Police. 

 Without any apparent   training, he then   devoted himself to fulltime painting  and over 70  years produced more than  3000 in various formats and   media , many  depicting ships in dramatic settings. 

In 1899 his views of  Mount Wellington and  Hobart , based on photos by John Watt Beattie, were chosen to  be  the first set of pictorial stamps, the fourpenny , from the Dictionary of  Australian  Biography, shown below. 

SPECTACULAR SKY DISPLAY

 A   contrail  made by  a jet  streaking   high  over  Townsville   late on   Saturday afternoon   provided   dramatic  footage .

 It  first  became   visible   as   a  thin , fast  moving   rocket -like   trail..  

Gradually, the  line decayed , broadened  out  , drifted away and eventually disappeared.

ADAM AND EVE, FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE AND SANTA IN EPIC PUB CRAWL

Our  bibulous  Shipping  Reporter  has returned  from  a  quick  voyage to  Van Diemen's  Land  where he   drank   in  the   local ,  thirsty  culture  and  found   intoxicating   souvenir   publications .

In the highly illustrated  history  of  Hobart  drinking spots by C.J. Dennison ,the Old Bell Inn  ,in which  Marcus Clarke wrote part  of his  novel, For the Term of his Natural Life, in one of the rooms,  is covered . The building included  murals  said to have been the work of convict  artist, forger and poisoner ,Thomas Wainewright.

There are numerous   drawings of  pubs  by graphic artist Adrian Thomas  Fleury  whose brother , Jake, born Hobart 1832, painted religious pictures and ornaments and decorated Catholic  churches  throughout  Australia, receiving  a  decoration  from  Pope  Pius  XI .

Popular with seafarers  for many years was the English,French and American Hotel which had a reading  room which  kept newspapers  from  England,France   and  the United States, enabling them to catch up on home country news.

The publican at the   Cascade Hotel regularly played  Father Christmas during the  annual Hobart  Christmas Parade in the l940s and 50s .

At McLaren's Hotel, the first licensee not only poured  grog, he made large  nails on the premises  , for which there was a big demand.  

There is an interesting woodcut of  Hobart  which appeared in the  Australian Sketcher on May 10,1879,drawn by an  artist in a hot air  balloon.

  The Alabama Hotel was named after the  USS  Alabama which  sailed into Hobart.

The  surprising  and highly entertaining   coverage of   Tasmanian  pubs  continues  in  the above  publication  by  Donald Howatson with coverage of 24  waterholes .

The introduction says for  many years the pubs were the only public buildings  and  were  used  for  a variety of  civic functions,  such as coronial inquests and public meetings. Sporting contests and matches  were  held .Several  had  skittle alleys at the back and publicans also arranged  rifle  shootings competitions 

At the Fox Inn, for example, a shooting match involved 40 geese, 20 ducks and 10  turkeys  which were lined up to be shot from 150 yards, at one shilling  a  shot.

There  were  two  pubs named Adam and Eve, one later changed to Waggon and Horses, bought by  ex convict  James  Horman  who had been transported to the colony in 1835 for stealing  pigs.

Another publican, Thomas  Todd Cooley (1805-1886),  had been  sentenced to be hanged for stealing silver from  a  London house  and  had also been in trouble over  the  theft of an umbrella !  The sentence was commuted to transportation  for   life .

It is  stated there was" a  tale" , a bit dubious,  that his pub was invaded  by four  bushrangers  and  he  fought  them  single- handledly  with his   fists.

It  was  strange  to  read  that  a pub  which opened in 1856 had been  named  after  Florence  Nightingale, the Lady of the Lamp .

In the  write up about Thomas Dewhurst Jennings (1824-1890) of the Derwent Hotel ,  which includes  a photograph of  him , well dressed, seated, wearing a bowler hat , it points out that the  Brisbane  Courier in  May l884 stated  he was  the biggest man in  Australia , if not the world !!! 

He weighed more than 200 kilograms  and became a famous Hobart attraction. During visits to  New  South Wales  and Victoria  he received much  attention  and  is said to have sent a  "Tasmanian  Tiger " - now  all long extinct- to  Sydney  for  the  great  hospitality  he  had  received . It does not say whether  the  Tiger  was  alive or  stuffed  and  mounted.

JOHN ASHE REMEMBERED

Composer  , poet , singer , actor, radio announcer  and  Townsville  chartered accountant, John Ashe , campaigned to counter Australia being flooded by   wailing  American  singers . In  the process ,  he  wrote  many  songs  about  Australian  subjects , from  Aborigines, the Great  Barrier  Reef  to   bushranger   Ned   Kelly . Conversely , he  composed a distinctively special   musical   tribute  to  America  during  WWll. 

                                

Ashe was aided and abetted in his  drive to  counter the  flood of Americana  by a  retired  former  magistrate  , Reginald Arthur  Vivivian ,  who  lived on  Magnetic Island .   Vivian , born in Melbourne, had moved to Queensland in 1900  and worked  in mining  districts  before going  to New Guinea ,where he became a magistrate . Retiring in 1942, he moved to the island ,writing books of  verse  under the name Aldus Thurian ,  about  bunyips, rabbits, wool, White  Australia  , published  in  the  l940s  in  Townsville ,one  below , which may have included  Bluey the cattle dog and the Devil  ???? in the  cover  illustration .

During the war, Ashe worked as an accountant for the US Army Finance Department  in  Townsville  and  often took American Servicemen  home   to listen  to  records .  He composed the  wartime tribute to the Americans  ,  Ain't It Grand to Have a Rich Uncle Sam, the sheet music decorated with the  flags of  the two  countries  .

One of the Americans was Gabriel Jacoby , possibly a colonel, who had worked for the New York music publishers , Leo Feist Inc . In l942 Jacoby was sent to see Ashe after  he told a Townsville music shop proprietor he had  a song in his head that he wanted to put down on paper. 

From a jungle in New Guinea , Jacoby sent Ashe lyrics for Memory Hill , which he turned into a catchy, slow foxtrot. The song was sung to troops in New Guinea by Lanny Ross with the backing of a band . Ashe and Jacoby collaborated to produce other songs-,Dream In Your Heart and Convicted and Sentenced.

Another   friend of Ashe's on  Magnetic Island   was  a  retired   Royal Navy captain who  had  been  in  the  1916  Battle  of   Jutland .  He introduced  schoolteacher  Margaret Mealy , from NSW, to  Ashe  , and  they  married , the naval  captain ,  wearing   medals ,  giave  her  away  at  the wedding ceremony. This week , during all  the  concerning  news about domestic violence, a John Ashe poem glorifying his wife was rediscovered in the Little Darwin  files  and  passed to Special  Collections ,  Eddie Koiki  Library, James   Cook   University .  

The Magnetic Museum  staged a  John  Ashe   display  several  years  ago  .

Ashe is shown above  on the cover of a record  album with Gordon Parsons and Chad Morgan .  His clients included graziers who came to see  him in Townsville . He  took them out  to lunch for  drinks  during  which  there was much swapping of  yarns , telling of   jokes , laughter , providing material for songs and  poems .

 ( By Peter Simon , more  details  about  Ashe  available in  Little Darwin  blog   online.) 

NECTAR SUCKERS HANGING ABOUT

Sunbird  pair above  .

Unidentified  . 

STRANGE JUNGLE ENCOUNTERS

 Camera  safari  by  click - happy   Vallis